Validating a tourism development theory with structural equation modeling

This study attempts to examine the structural effects of four tourism-impact factors on total impact and on local residents' support for tourism development. To achieve the above goal, five research hypotheses are proposed. Three hundred and four questionnaires From a mail survey of randomly selected residents from the Norfolk/Virginia Beach/Newport News area were analyzed. A confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling procedure were performed, respectively, by utilizing the LISREL procedure. Four exogenous constructs dealing with economic, social, cultural, and the environmental impacts and two endogenous constructs, including the variable of total impacts and support for tourism development were analyzed with structural equation modeling procedures. In the resulting structural equation model, five hypotheses are supported. The implications for tourism practitioners and academicians are discussed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.